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"Drag It Through the Garden"

Exhibit Photos, Performance Photos, and Prints
Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Promotional Card for "Drag it Through the Garden" Exhibit.

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Hot Dog Prints

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Hot Dog Print Detail

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Performance Beginning

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Taking orders for Hot Dog prints

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Lining up Hot Dog print orders to dry.

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Getting busy with orders!

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Drag it Through the Garden

Someone enjoying a Hot Dog Print on the house!

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Print Detail

Give-away Print Detail

Give-away Print Detail

Process Work: Experimentation and Performance Study
Hot Dog Printing on Apron

Hot Dog Printing on Apron

Experimenting with Linocut Printing

Experimenting with Linocut Printing

Printing Hot Dogs onto Real Food

Printing Hot Dogs onto Real Food

Experimentation

Experimentation

Experimentation

Experimentation

Hot Dog Print on Bun

Hot Dog Print on Bun

Experimentation

Experimentation

Experimentation

Experimentation

Untitled

Untitled

Experimentation

Experimentation

Performance Study

Performance Study

Hot Dog Printed on Tomato

Hot Dog Printed on Tomato

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

Performance Study

"Drag it through the Garden" 
Performance and Installation with Prints

 

My piece “Drag it Through the Garden” invites you to take a step into the life of a Chicago hot dog stand through performance, installation, sculpture and prints. I am obsessed with hot dogs. I love to eat them, talk about them, learn about them, make them, sell them, and print them.

 

My obsession for hot dogs grew from childhood memories of eating hot dogs with my dad. Any time he said he wanted “a bite” we would go and get a hot dog somewhere. We traveled a lot when I was younger and my dad was obsessed with the idea of bringing the Chicago dog to Taipei, Taiwan, where we had lived. My dad decided to order three huge hot dog carts, and Vienna Beef products to start the business up in Taipei. Unfortunately, by the time we received the carts, Mad Cow disease broke out in China. This meant that it would have been impossible to sell hot dogs anywhere in Asia, so we were never able to start the business.

 

When talking about hot dogs, or my work with hot dogs, I see faces light up with excitement. I believe it’s because almost anyone can recall when he or she ate their first hot dog - whether it be enjoying a hot dog at a baseball game, or running to McDonalds to sneak some ketchup for your French Fries at Gene and Jude’s (a famous hot dog stand on the West Side that is known for not allowing ketchup in the building).

 

The Chicago Dog is more than just a wiener in a bun, “dragged through the garden.” It is part of Chicago’s identity, history, and a nostalgic memory. The inventors of sausages brought their “Vienna Sausage” recipe to Chicago in 1893 at the Columbus Exchange and today Vienna Beef headquarters still exists in Chicago as a primary supplier of dogs across the United States. There is a certain passion about the Chicago Dog and the relationship between the people who eat them and sell them that doesn’t really exist in other places. This passion for the Chicago Dog can be seen when you walk into your neighborhood hot dog stand and are greeted and acknowledged in a friendly manner. The vendor might know your name and what you are going to order. Even if they don’t know your name, the feeling of belonging and intimacy still exists. This kind of intimacy is becoming a lost art in the fast food industry.

 

The Midwest friendliness is part of Chicago’s persona and a Chicago hot dog stand is a symbol of that feeling. 

 

AKDESIGNCO

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